Internal-combustion engine.



A. C. KENWORTHY. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22,1911.

Patented Get.- 29, 1918.

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APPLICATION FILED JMLZZ. 1917 1,282,856.,

Patented, Oct. 29', 1918".

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Patented 0st, 29, 1918;

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ALVIN KENWORTHY ALVIN C. KENVIORTHY, F 'WALLA WALLA, WASHINGTON.

INTEENAL-CQMBUSTION ENGINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALviN C. :KEN woirrrir,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Walla WValla, in the countyof \Valla \Valla and State of lVashington, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and particularlyto engines of I this character having a double cylinder.

The general object of this invention is to provide an engine of thisclfaracter having high power and capable of employinghighly explosivegases as a motive force.

A further object is to provide an engine which shall be perfectlybalanced and in which the strain due to explosion is not resisted by theframe of the engine or any portion thereof. 4

A. further object is to provide an. engine in which one or moreexplosive gases may be used or in which two or more explosive gases maybe combined in the explosion chamber. A further object is to provide agovernor which shall be simple in construction and positive, effectiveand quick in its action.

Still another object is to provide means whereby steam may be carriedinto the firing or explosion chamber whereby to form a water gas of ahighly explosive character.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure1 is a top plan view partly in section of an engine constructed inaccordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is aside clevat u of the construction shown in 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through the firingchamber and valve chambers thereof;

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view through a fly wheel showing partof the governor mechanism;

Fig. 5 is adiagrammatic perspective view of the valve operatingmechanism;

Fig. 6 are sectional views through the head 56 showing the manner inwhich the head controls the movement of the valve; and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view through the shaft 56 and the head or disk 31showing the yoke for shifting the disk 31.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented loin-2Q 11918..

Application filed January 22, 1917. Serial No. 143,865.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates the bed of the engine of anysuitable char acter. Mounted upon the bed in any suitable manner are theopposed cylinders 11 and 12 with the intermediate explosion chamber'13.

Extending transversely across the bed and mounted in suitable bearingsat one end thereof is the shaft 14: which is provided with the twocranks 15 and an intermediate crank 16. These cranked portions 15 and 16have the same radius. Slidingly mounted in the bed of the engine or insuitable guides is the cross head 17 to which is connected the pistonrod 18 carrying the piston 19 which operates in the cylinder 11 and thiscross head 17 is connected to the cranks15 bymeans of the connectingrods 20. Operating within the cylinder 12 is the piston 21 which isconnected to the crank 16 by means of the connecting rod 22.

Mounted upon the shaft 1 1 are the oppo sitely disposed balance wheels23 and 24 and the pulley 25 whereby power may be taken from the shaft1 1. Also operatively supported upon the bed is a countershaft 26carrying upon it the cams 27 and 28 and driven by a gear wheel 29meshing with a able manner so that as the speed of the engine increases,the balls will fly outward under centrifugal force, the arms 32 will bedrawn outward, and the disk 31 be shifted longitudinally on the hub ofthe wheel 24 in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 4. Springs act toretract the governor balls toward the axial center of the wheel 24. Thedisk 31 is operatively. connected as will be later described to valvegoverning mechanism.

The firing chamber 13 consists of a rectangular casing having heads 36to which the ends of the cylinders 11 and 12 are operativcly connected,this tiring chamber being divided into three parts by the upper andlower partitions 37 and The partition 38 extends only partly across thefiring chamber and incloses a valve chamber 39. A spark plug 40 or otherigniting device opens into the explosion chamber. The partition 37 witha partition 41 defines an inlet valve chamber 42 and an exhaust valvechamber 43. Operating within the valve chamber 39 is an inlet valve 44which is normally held to its seat by a spring' 45 and operating in thechamber 42 is an inlet valve 46 held to its seat by a spring 47.Operating within the valve chamber 43 is an outlet valve 48 held to itsseat by a spring 49. For the purpose of operating the valve 48 and thevalve 46, I provide the rockers 50 and 51 respectively which arepivotally mounted intermediate their ends in any suitable manner andwhich at their rear ends are angularly bent to extend beneath the rodsof the respective valves. When these rockers are rocked they will causethe opening of the valves and t e rockers are oscillated by means of thecams 27 and 28 beneath which the ends of the rocker arms extend. Thevalve 44 is operated by a relatively short rocker arm 52 pivotallysupported. upon a bracket 53 extending upward from the explosion chamberand this rocker arm 52 is connected at its forward end by a link 54 tothe rocker arm 50 so that the rocker arms 50 and 52 will oscillatetogether. It will be noted, however, that while the link 54 is connectedto the forward end of the rod 50 it is connected to the rear end of therod 52 so that a depression of the valve engaging end of the arm 50 willcause an elevation of the valve engaging end of the arm 52, and that anelevation of the rocker arm 50, which will act to open the valve 46,will cause a de pression of the valve engagingend of the arm 52 whichwill cause an opening of the valve 44 and that the valves 46 and 44 willopen together.

The means whereby the engine is governed comprises a rod 55 having aslotted head 56 at one end, this head being: grooved upon its under faceas at 57 and the upper end of the valve stem or valve 44 resting in thisgroove. The head 56 has, therefore, sliding engagement with this stem.Mounted upon the frame of the engine in any suitable manner is a lever58 having the form generally of a bell crank lever, one arm of thislever being connected to a yoke 59 which partly embraces the grooveddisk 31 and is operatively connected to an ordinary shipper ringdisposed in the groove of the disk. It will thus be obvious that whenthe disk 31 is shifted inward on the hub of Wheel 24, the inwardlyextending arm of the bell crank lever 58 will be shifted toward thecylinders of the engine and when the disk 31 is shifted outward thelever 58 will be shifted in the opposite direction. This lever 58 ispivotally connected to the rod 55. It will thus be seen that when theengine is running too fast, the governor balls will act to shift the rod55 toward the crank shaft and when the engine is running too slow, theretraction. of the governor balls under the action. of the spring 35will cause the rod to shift so as to carry 60 which is disposedimmediately over the lower wall of the wedge-shaped head 56. It will nowbe obvious (see Fig. 6) that when the wedge-shaped head 56 is shifted tothe left in Fig. 2, the rocker arm 52 will operatively engage soonerwith the valve stem or valve 44 and depress it farther than it will whenthe rod 55 and head 56 is shifted to the right (as it is in Fig. 6) orreversely to the arrow in Fig. 2, and thus what may be termed theauxiliary gas entering the engine by way of the valve member 39 will beincreased or decreased and the opening of the valve advanced or retardedand thus the governing of the engine is accomplished. It is obvious thata like governor may be applied to the stem of valve 46, that is that awedge-shaped head 56 may be disposed between the stem of the valve 46and the corresponding rocker arm 50 and thus both valves be governed. Ihave not illustrated this construction, however, as it is an obviousone. It will be seen that the action of the governor is to push thewedge-shaped head 56 farther in between the arm and the valve stem whenthe engine slacks down in its speed so that the rocker arm 52 will openthe valve sooner and wider when more power is needed and that when theengine is running too fast. the wedge 56 will be drawn outward so thatthe rocker arm will push the valve down later and to a less eX- tent. Itis to be understood again that the governing mechanism may 'be used onboth of the valves 46 and 44 or on either one of use if desired twodifferent kinds of fuel,

one kind of fuel entering the valve chamber 39, the other entering thevalve chamber 42. I can also by means of the pipe 61 Introduce steam orother vapor orgas into the valve chamber 42, mixed or combined with theother fuel entering this chamber.

l/Vhile I do not wish to limit myself to any particular gas or explosivevapor, yet by allowing a small amount of hydrogen gas to enter thechamber 39 with a suitable amount of air or pure oxygen taken into thechamber 42 and mixed with steam from the pipe 61.,a very powerfulexplosive gaedBo is secured. Preferably the hydrogen gas is secured bydecomposing water by electrolysis the water so used being taken from theengine jacket, carried into a. suitable receptacle and there mixed withchen'iicals, as tor instance sulfuric acid to give it conductivity. Asthe hydrogen and ()Xygen gases will be carried to separate valvechambers through separate pipes and valve systems, there will be nodanger of baekfiring.

1t willbe seen that my engine has no cylinder head, that theexplosionoccurs in the space between the two pistons, and that thus thefull force of the explosion is delivered directly to the crank shaftinstead ol. against the cylinder head and so to the frame of the engine.Such a construction permits of a higlr explosiye being used. It willfurther be seen that the governor is instantaneous in its action andpositive in its action and controls the feed of fuel right at the pointof explosion. governor controls the valve directly at the point ofexplosion, it will be obvious that the action of the governor will bevery quick and positive. A thumb screw 62, together with the springsmake the governor very easy to adjust and very sensitive to speed.

While I have illustrated an embodiment of my invention which I believeto be particularly effective, yet it will be obvious that many changesmight be made within the scope of the appended claims without departingfrom the spn-lt of the invention and that the principle of the inventionmay be Inasmuch as the.

ing inlet valves disposed in said chambers and having stems extending inopposite directions, an exhaust valve chamber, an exhaust valve therein,a crank shaft, pistons in the cylinders o )eratively connected to thecrank shaft, a eountershaft having cams, rocker arms operated by saidcams and respcctively engaging the valve stems of the exhaust and one ofthe inlet valves, a rocker arm having one end disposed across the valvestem of the other inlet valve, a detachable link connection between thefirst named rocker arm operating one inlet valve and the second namedrocker arm, and governor operated means for advancing or retarding thetime of engagement between the last named rocke' arm and its valve stemand increasing or decreasing the amount of movement given to the valvestem by said' shaped member having av longitudinally extending groove onits under face receiving the stem of the inlet valve and having arelatively high laterally opening groove upon its side face, withinwhich the extremity of the actuating member ope ates.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

ALVIN C. KENVVORTHY.

Witnesses H. M. READ, LEON B. Knnwoa'rnv

